


Love is Love

by Talullah



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Snowflake Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 13:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9237158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talullah/pseuds/Talullah
Summary: Mairen prays by the sea.





	

Mairen knelt by the water and held her hand over her heart in prayer. Dusk fell, the sun hidden behind the houses of Rómenna and ahead of her, only a sapphire sky and the dark volume of Tol Uinen breaking the horizon.

“Lady, lady,” she whispered, as she had so many nights before. “Answer my call.”

A gentle wave deposited seafoam by her knees, wetting her gown. The tide was coming in and with it came no answer. She waited, her head bowed. Her soul could have no peace but here, the sound of the rolling waves a balm for her troubled mind.

“Our Lady of the Harbour,” she tried again, this time intoning the sailor’s prayer. Another wave lapped at her knees. It felt warm, warmer than it should be for Hísimë. She shivered.

The sea seemed to sigh. A tear rolled down Mairen’s cheek, falling into the water.

“Child,” a soft, deep voice said. “You suffer for nothing.”

Mairen looked around, startled. “Lady?” she whispered. She saw no one, in the now absolute dark.

“Here child.”

A phosphorescence lit the silky ultramarine waves. From it rose a woman, fair and fey beyond Mairen’s wildest guess. Hastily she lowered her eyes. 

“My Lady,” she repeated.

Uinen moved toward her, lit only by the strange glow coming from the water around her. Her skin was darker than a peasant’s, her hair a mess of curls sprinkled with shells and seaweed. Mairen darted her eyes up, to take in her beautiful, full figure as Uinen rose above the waves.

Uinen smiled. “You may look freely, child.”

Mairen blushed. “But…”

“No buts. You have cried for many moons here. For what? Desiring wrongly? Loving erroneously?”

Mairen gasped.

“I absolve you of your guilt, Mairen of Elenna. Be free.” Uinen ran her warm, watery fingers along Mairen’s jaw

Mairen’s eyes stung with tears. She did could not fully grasp understand, yet, but she understood what Uinen said.

“Thank you, Lady. Thank you,” she whispered, the tears running freely down her cheeks now.

Uinen sighed again, her breath sounding like the roll of the waves. “Think. Sleep. Return tomorrow.”

Mairen nodded. “I will, my Lady.”

As Uinen drew closer, Mairen closed her eyes. A soft kiss was deposited on her cheek. 

“Love is love,” Uinen said in a murmur in her ear.

Finis  
January 2017

**Author's Note:**

> Hísimë is the equivalent of November in Quenya.  
> If it sounds a little Catholic, well yes, my headcanon for Uinen in the early Númenor is really that she is the 'Our Lady of the Harbour' for the mariners. There. :P
> 
> [Disclaimer/Blanket Statement](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Talullah/profile)


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